Someone I know in Real Life has just got themselves an LJ. All hail playdreams. Up until now the only Real Life people I've known on LJ were my kids.

So who's the greatest British actor of all time? Channel 5 gave its viewers a list compiled by "experts" and asked them to put the names in their preferred order. And, no- Burbage, Garrick, Keane and Irving weren't on it. I hate that phrase "all time" because it never means what it says.

Anyway, the greatest British actor of all time turns out to be Anthony Hopkins. I guess it was the fava beans that did it. I saw Hopkins on stage once (in Lear) and thought he was ordinary.

But Cary Grant and Peter Sellers were on the list- they came in at 4 and 7 respectively- and this makes me happy.

Yes, Cary Grant was a Brit. Born in Bristol. Real name Archie Leach. Is this common knowledge? It should be. Surely it's time we put his head on a stamp or a bank note or something!

What about Alec Guiness and Peter O'Toole and Patrick Stewart (oh, I know. I can't help it.) and--who was that man who played Julius Caesar in the sixties in a film...we saw it in high school and I fell in love with his long eyelashes...)

It is ALWAYS a popularity contest, when these things happen. But of course I do love SIR Anthony Hopkin. What about Olivier?

The first time I went to Toronto, I took the 'tour' of the *beautifully restored Pantages Theatre and the woman who was giving the tour said "in one of the vaudeville shows there was a young arcrobat named Archibold Leach...anyone know who that was?" I yelled right out "Cary Grant". She told me I must be older than I looked. He was excellent. I think my favorite movie of his was Indescreet with Ingrid Bergman. He was at the very height of his charm, and she was as beautiful as she ever was. They are the perfect couple.

I've never really cared for Peter Sellers. He seems like just a little bit 'too much'.

James Mason. I remember him best as Captain Nemo in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

I had to see that three times (Shadowlands) before I could really judge his performance in that, Shadowlands is one of the most emotional movies I've ever seen...

anyone who doesn't 'get' Olivier should see him in Wuthering Heights, or in one of his Shakespearean movies. Or as the evil dentist in Marathon Man. no, they should see ALL of those performances. They they will understand what a great actor he was.

I love Cary Grant, he's in two of my favourite films (The Philadelphia Story and - believe it or not - I Was a Male War Bride!), but he's always Cary Grant, isn't he? I'm not sure he's a great actor...

It's not only that "of all time" means "since the invention of a recording technology that allows us to see it" - this is heavily biased towards people who have done a lot of work, not just on film but on colour film (I see it includes Laughton, who was evidently colourful enough in himself...). Of the actors I've actually seen, I'd probably vote for Ian Holm - with a special prize for Richard Burton, Best Voice Of All Time!

Yes, this was only men. They're dealing with the ten best women next week.

Cary was always Cary, but no-one ever had such faultless timing. Or was quite so dreamily debonair. And he had range. He was a great comedian, but he was also equally brilliant in such dark entertainments as Suspicion and Notorious and North by North West.

Holm is under-rated. Burton was a great actor who hated acting and squandered his talent. Everyone says he was at his best on stage in the 1950s.